Director: Bryan Bertino
Writer: Bryan Bertino (Screenplay) Bryan Bertino, Sam Esmail (Story)
Starring: Alexandra Lydon, Audrey Marie Anderson, Barak Hardley, Todd Stashwick
Plot: A couple are given a camera and a set of instructions which they must follow or else someone will die.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Messy, Confusing and Dull
Story: Mockingbird starts when Emmy (Anderson) and Tom (Stashwick) receive a video camera congratulating them on winning a contest telling them to continue filming through the night. Elsewhere Leonard (Hardley) also wins a contest that informs him to follow instruction through the night.
What follows is Emmy and Tom being terrorised by intruders from the outside ordering them to film themselves while Leonard continues on his mystery adventure dressed as a clown. We also follow how Beth (Lydon) is tormented by strangers outside her campus house. We are left to wonder how these stories are connected and even if they are connected from this storm night of terror.
Mockingbird tries to bring us three stories that are all happening on one night, two involved home invasion like tactics while the third just seems to be a man making an American Funniest Home Videos. One big issue for me is the fact that both the leading actresses look very similar at a glance which is all you get with the shaky cam style and it was nearly half way through the film before I realised there was a third story going on. The final act is just messy because we don’t know what the actual point of everything and I can safely say this is beyond boring.
Actor Review
Alexandra Lydon: Beth is the university student who believes she has won a camera as part of a campus prize but finds herself being terrorised in her own dorm room, ordered to follow the instructions. Alexandra is in the film that is about all I can say about her as I didn’t realize she was different character until late in the film.
Audrey Marie Anderson: Emmy is the wife and mother who along with her husband gets trapped inside her own home with her husband to follow the instructions left for her by the strangers outside their home. Audrey does a basic job in this role but mainly involved screaming.
Barak Hardley: Leonard is the man given the clown costume to wear as he follows instruction to do random acts around the town outside his own comfort zone. Barak is the remotely highlight of the film as the clown but that is it.
Todd Stashwick: Tom is the husband to Emmy who also gets trapped at home with her having to follow the instructions given. Todd doesn’t really give us anything special in this performance.
Support Cast: Mockingbird doesn’t really have a big supporting cast with only a couple of scenes with any in.
Director Review: Bryan Bertino – Bryan doesn’t really capture enough atmosphere needed in this film because of the story line jumps.
Horror: Mockingbird does have a couple of scare attempts but just doesn’t know where to stick the horror over the laid back style of the clown almost comedy story.
Thriller: Mockingbird doesn’t keep us interested enough through the film when it should be easy to achieve this.
Settings: Mockingbird gets us confused with locations because of the difficulty knowing the characters apart.
Special Effects: Mockingbird doesn’t really use too many effects which is only disappointing.
Suggestion: Mockingbird is one to avoid really. (Avoid)
Best Part: It is short.
Worst Part: Confusing Emmy and Beth up.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Please No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes
Overall: Flat out terrible horror that doesn’t really know what it wants to be.
Rating
